The first encounter for Alsop, he had at last met the third captain of Bournington, Magnolia Margrave, in the Contest of Champions. Their current situation was saddening for one another because one of the two were soon to see a downfall. An instant exit from the Contest of Champions. Alsop was familiar with her skills, having relished her style with a sword several times in the past, and he was also well aware of her magical prowess compared to him. Whatever the fight, whenever the fight, Alsop recognised his instant disadvantage of not being magically talented so his fights would have to be well calculated in order to succeed.

Magnolia had advanced closer and closer to the idle, busy at thought Alsop. Her hands trembled in the embers of the cold, but they clutched firmly to a long, drawn-out sword. The blade was thin and was mastered to be used by a speedy handler. With her magic focusing on the manipulation of wind magic, this made perfect sense for her. Using the best of her magic, she could travel at a blitzing pace across the ground while also delivering a slim incision to her enemies with her blade.

Compared to Alsop, she was a perfect match in speed, stealth and swordsmanship. Unlike Alsop, she was quick to adapt to the chilling environment she started in, as her lips hungered for Alsop and some points. Alsop on the other hand, was like an ice figure, frozen to his spot. His fingers twiddled around the handle of his blade, his eyes were stuck in thought and his mouth was busy chewing away at something.

"Who is it? Who are you?" Magnolia asked as she drew her sword up to Alsop's neck with an ounce of mercy.

A mere few words soon provided Alsop with a plethora of information. Magnolia was also struggling with sight in the blizzard. Such a thought was completely forgotten by Alsop before because his ears had already accepted his enemy was Magnolia from the moment he arrived at the snow. His enemy, however, had no image of who her mysterious foe might be. Using this valuable knowledge, Alsop quickly retreated with a leap to the distance. With his escape, he dragged down Magnolia's ice-cold sabre to the ground, forcing a stumble to woe her. The very little amount of respect she had for Alsop, was readily gone. Her feet began to rapidly move with anger, punishing the snow with a melting sensation. But a fault blundered her movement across the ground with great pace. The snow was thick and slippery, leading to hurdles of tripping to tumble her way. The battle was inevitably even now. A simple duel of swords, and nothing more.

"My name. My name is Alsop Dusseldorf!" He boldly proclaimed as he stood tall.

"No magic to use on me then, Alsop Dusseldorf?" Magnolia laughed, her eyes wary of where the voice echoed from.

"Perhaps I have something, but it will be unnecessary on you." Replied Alsop, his steps drawing close to Magnolia with his blade in hand.

"I've heard you're formidable with your blade, give me a good time, will you?" Chuckled Magnolia, her heart set on trumping Alsop's challenge.

A final breath between the two bolstered their performance to give them peak energy, but the first to land a hit was Magnolia. Her acrobatic nature with such a well looked after physique, granted her a leap over Alsop that opened his back to a serious slash. A further gauge into his hip hampered him even more as she smiled with a wicked undertone. Alsop resisted though, as her blade withdrew and then lunged in for another devastating stab, he pummelled his elbow deep into the layers of her face - throwing her lacklustre sight off guard. Turning around to seek at least one swipe with his sword, Alsop was left with nothing. Magnolia had moved in an instant, and her use of wind magic slowly propelled her away. Trapped, doing such action had left herself in snow elsewhere. Alsop was left with bitter pain, as his lower body struggled for ground, and some of his blood started to soak the white snow of the land. But this punishment he was enduring furthered.

Running up to him with a furious pace, Magnolia jolted her blade towards his chest. Alsop had been slightly aware and forced the blade to slice open his shoulder instead - causing a fine cut to his hand too, as the blade was double-edged. Alsop was now in a brutal battle for not only the timbers of hope for his time in the contest, but his life was also being held captive by Magnolia. He direly needed a pause, a time to be with his thoughts. Every second his hand clung to the edge of Magnolia's sword, more and more blood came dripping from his palm. Thinking was irresponsible, Alsop needed to act fast.

Before he could move, his grip faded from the sword, his knees collapsing to the ground in cold, cutting despair. A plummeting swing wedged into his initial wound along his hip, proving to be the final blow for Alsop. It left him as cold as ice. The frost thawed him away silently with Magnolia walking off in the empty lands, leaving him to bury in anguish.

"Quite the disappointment." She echoed into his falling mind, as her words buried deep with him.

High above the duel, the sponsors had been sat next to each other in the crowds of the arena. Maxwell was among the group, and his eyes pierced with abject fear. The others were too in awe at the battering of a contestant so easily, but their bewilderment came from something else. Alsop had brought himself back up easily, and he formed himself back into a stance ready for a fight. As if he were a giddy child, Maxwell leapt up from his seat with an ecstatic grin.

"Haha, haha! This is great! He used it! He used the wind shield!" He laughed out loudly in excitement.

"What does that mean?" Asked Chadwick unenthusiastically.

"It means he's not really been hurt. Wind shields provide protection from magic." Said Victoria with intrigue.

"Magnolia has not been using magic though?" Chadwick observed.

"No, she has, it's hard to see. It's in her movement, but more importantly, it's in the swings of her sword. Alsop is only feeling a fraction of the pain because the magic of her sword has been nullified." Said Maxwell.

"Why did you give such a piece of equipment though, Maxwell?" Asked Victoria.

"Alsop can't use magic. Haven't you heard?" Replied Maxwell.

"He can't? That's fascinating. It seems I've become friends with quite an interesting person." Said Victoria.

"Friends? Why would he become friends with you?" Maxwell asked with a hint of curiosity.

"I'm going to help him find the Tree of Life." Victoria simply replied.

"What?! That's a false legend, don't tell the boy stupid stuff like that!" Surprisingly, Chadwick was alarmed by such a bold remark.

"It's not false." Said Frederick.

"Hmm, well. If it is true, I don't see the harm in lending some time to help him find it." Said Maxwell.

"Well, you might have to find it for him soon. I still don't see him coming out of this contest alive." Laughed Chadwick.

"Not the way to be speaking, as a guardian, is it?" Added Frederick.

"And how would you know how one is supposed to act? You are barely a guardian. You never help us. You are seen as a failure to us." Scorned Chadwick profusely.

"Chadwick! What Fred likes to do in his free time is up to him." Erupted Maxwell in defence.

"Max, leave it. I have come to realise that my duty is to show you what I once was. I just need time and forgiveness." Said Frederick thoughtfully.

"You will get my forgiveness when you face your errors." Chadwick coldly concluded.

"I wonder if Alsop can really pick himself up from here." Said Annette, her focus solely contained to the contest.

"You are healing all of the candidates after this, right Anne? Let's hope Alsop does not need too much." Said Maxwell.

Alsop had risen from his cold plight, and his eyes burned with knowledge. The battering blasts he had received were insightful in how Magnolia conducted her masterful attacks and his mind had now unlocked the key to facing her.

"Magnolia, I believe it's time we had a duel." Shouted Alsop, as Magnolia turned around - stunned.

"I knew something was off. Are you sure? I've got my fair share of points from you. Any more and you may not hold up. I like to see myself as a heroine, not a murderer." Said Magnolia after a moment of acceptance.

"The only reason you will be fighting me then is to protect yourself from me." Said Alsop, his mind concluding the thought.

Drawing his sword, Alsop pounded the frosty metal into the deep layers of snow, where a crack surfaced and travelled chaotically towards the footing of Magnolia. She felt compelled to reply to Alsop's taunting line, but this led her focus astray, thus her demise had begun as her feet troubled her. Alsop was slightly troubled too, as his sword proved difficult to tame, showing impudence. His twisting and turning to release the rod of steel cracked the ice further until Magnolia dropped with a lack of grip. The sword had removed finally, and now Alsop quickly rushed to her with a leap of great faith into his swing, as it aimed for a blow in a particular place. A squelch had squealed across the crowd, as his sword slithered its way through a wound in her hip, which he struck with tempered disrespect.

But Alsop soon froze in fear, as a wicked smile drew across Magnolia's face.

Her fingers trembled in the frost, and they seemingly aimed for the handle of her sword, but they were in fact fumbling about for a snap. One snap. With this single snap, her eyes drifted into a sense of security, as a fluttering followed, and then the moans of a muffled victim. This was because Magnolia's cherished cape drawn across her back carried the ability to be metabolic, to be free, to be alive like her. The cape had released from her back, and it became chaotic to her attacker, Alsop. Entrapping him nefariously and refusing him the right to breathe, the cape tightened around his body.

"Krff! Not quite the duel was that? More a spar of slices at each other. And my, did you hurt me. I doubt I can win this thing with what you've done to me now." Magnolia coughed, as she rose to laugh at his face.

"You were planning on winning? You're lacking in strategy to do so." Alsop wheezed out.

"And you think you have the strategy? You? Who are you? You are hardly a champion, for this contest." Said Magnolia.

"Maybe I...don't have...the strategy...but I have something..." Alsop painfully said as he endured her taunts.

"Oh? And what is that? What more tricks can a villain like you even hide?" Magnolia replied with a smile to her lips which imprinted into Alsop's perilous eyes.

"Power!" Alsop thunderously said as his eyes dilated deep into a shade of black.

Astounded, Magnolia had taken a step back to acknowledge what Alsop was on about until it hit her harshly. The spirit Alsop had been keeping stored within his sword, summoned in his moment of pain and it sent the cape flying into shards of fractured fabric. His sword became visible, and it illuminated the cold climate with a blinding light of darkness that drew energy from the surrounding environment. The sword was now a living being of immense magnitude having murdered another, in the form of the cape, and it was certain on one thing now. Magnolia was a foul villain to Alsop and his blitzing blade.

"A spirit? A strong one too - how are you taming it like that?" Magnolia gasped in sheer submission.

"Mind if I join in here?" A voice called out across the snow, quickly gathering Alsop's gaze.

"Who is it? I don't need saving here. So, leave us alone now." Demanded Magnolia as she sought after the handle of Alsop's blade.

But to her surprise, the very skin on her hands horrendously began to melt. And with that, her eyes jolted up and down, from her hand to the face of Alsop who now sparkled in the light from his sabre. His visage was clear to her, and it was nothing she had imagined, or at least, hoped it would be. The fearless eyes that once painted Magnolia as ruthless, now steadily backed away from Alsop in terror. Her feet had floated away in a wet flush of fear, as Alsop's blade provided a crusade of heat that slowly melted the snowy conditions. Alsop's eyes of black content soon blistered with white though, as a spike of ice engraved into the shoulder of Magnolia ahead of him.

She stumbled forwards, carefully collected by Alsop who dropped his sword and soon realised his surroundings. The scene was inserted into Alsop's eyes, and most saliently, his mind. In front of him, his delicacy had witnessed the finest foulness of a fight and it had now submerged his heart into a villainous delve with guilt.

"Power, I said? No. This isn't power." Alsop shook his head in disarray. "This is the reality, and I cannot handle this. Power is the will to accept this truth. This girl, she is the same as me. And now, I'm the same as her...to her I am the villain to her heroism...so what about this is heroic?" Alsop thought in tears, as his eyes pierced with pain.

"Ahem, Alsop. I'm sorry to have stolen your points there, but you have to do what has to be done, right?" Axel nervously chuckled, as he arrived in Alsop's smudged sight.

"What?"

"You're getting teary-eyed because I finished her off, no?" Axel laughed, trying to help up Alsop.

"You finished her?" Alsop pondered, his hands laying Magnolia across the wet ground.

"Yes. Why wouldn't I? This puts me first on the - second. Second on the leader board. It seems your pal, Al has slaughtered someone else. Ruthless as usual." Axel begrudgingly said as he looked up to the leader board high in the sky.

"Axel, we have to get her to the edge of the dome that circles us. Perhaps they will open it earlier to get her aid. I believe your final hits have hurt her a lot." Alsop said as his fingers pressed the coldness prevailing Magnolia's complexion.

"What? No!" Exclaimed Axel.

"Axel?" Alsop was shaken.

"Alsop! Why risk my chances by helping an enemy? She could bite us back later, or even, we could get hurt moving her!" Axel claimed.

"And so what? What does it matter if any of those things happen?" Alsop asked with a tremble.

"Well...it's selfish. But that's what it means to be a..." Axel was cut off by the glowing flames of a nearby onlooker.

"...general. Part of being a general, is being selfish. Well done Axel, you've learnt a thing or two under me, I see. And Alsop Dusseldorf, how much of a difference there is in you now." Said Isaac Rose with a crawling smile.

"The two of you! The contest is on your minds, this is a matter of helping a person. Don't you see?" Alsop nimbly said as his words failed to persevere.

"Alsop, don't you understand that she is an enemy?" Axel calmly asked, his hand aiming for Alsop's shoulder.

But it never landed.

A fine bullet bolted through the gap in the air, and it forced a feisty roll of charred smoke under the nose of Axel. Axel had boldly shaken his head to remove the scent, and Isaac vengefully looked on at a distant gunman. Alsop knew the play that had been set afoot now. His heroic saviour, his perfect partner, his glimmer of real power had arrived. Alister Sinclair had, at last, arrived at the depths of the former snow.